Join us in Aotearoa in 2018!

Phone us at (503) 946-9930 for inquiries or use this email contact form.

This tour is designed to be an enjoyable adventure for adults age 50 and over. Activities will require an average level of fitness and the ability to stand and walk for up to an hour.

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Tour Leaders and Guides

Our Tour Leaders and Guides

I was born in Germany to American parents. My first big international trip was coming back “across the pond” to grow up in the Chicago area. I began a career as a concert cellist at age 12 that allowed me to immerse myself in Western art and history. As a cellist, I traveled extensively throughout the USA to both study and perform with inspiring musicians from around the world.

I am an avowed tree hugger and had the opportunity to live off the grid in a remote forest area of Northern California for many years where I could pursue my passions for star gazing, gardening and living in community with eagles, bears, wolves and other wild beings.

I am a life long student of art, mythology, history and philosophy. My quest for knowledge has led to treasured friendships and travel across the globe. I love finding true points of understanding and connection with people, whether it is in sharing the language of music, spiritual insights or the enduring love of family and place.

My long vocation in service and support began as a personal journey caring for a disabled parent. I am happiest when I am supporting others in their aspirational goals.

Anne Conrad-Antoville

Tour Leader

Anthony Antoville

Tour Leader

In my youth, I lived in Manhattan, Texas and Southern California. My childhood was filled by sailing with my family to and from Catalina Island, where we would spend much of our summers, or hiking through Yosemite while at camp.

At age 15, I traveled alone on planes and trains visiting family friends in Zurich and Lausanne, Switzerland. By the time I was 19, I took part in a summer Rotary International Youth Exchange to England and discovered a great love for the British Isles.

I was trained as a visual artist, studied with many renowned artists and received my BFA in Studio Art from the University of Southern California, where I met the love of my life – Anne.

Soon thereafter, my life took the unexpected twists and turns life often takes and moved to a remote region of Northern California where Anne and I married. There we built our own independently powered home, lived close to nature while raising our daughter.

During this time of life, I worked for several years in skilled nursing with aging residents. An unanticipated career path in aging services stuck and now spans more than 25 years.

Over the years, I have reflected upon the conceptual quote by the German artist, Joesph Beuys: “Sculpture as an evolutionary process; everyone is an artist.” We sculpt and shape our lives and in turn how we live sculpts and shapes us, as we embody the many nuances of our vast array of experiences.

I find this process so wonderfully grand and awe inspiring, to be embraced and never to be feared, rejected or regretted. I consider experiences to be the key! I realize much joy in sharing some of the infinite experiences the world has to offer each of us.

My name is Rititia or if you cannot pronounce just call me Ritz…being from a family of eleven and my parents still gracing us with their presence after 64 years of marriage, I have been brought up in a big family with lots of fun, laughter and the most of all Love.

Most of my career I have been a caregiver supporting the elderly and the intellectually disabled.I have also been a Diversional Therapist specialising in the area of Dementia.

At present I am working alongside my husband Simon in developing a natural healing balm used by Maori for generations.

I love singing, swimming and camp fires.

I feel a deep connection with the Land and seas around our beautiful country and look forward to promote and endorse New Zealand as the Land of the Long White cloud Aotearoa. I feel privileged and am happy to share some a small part of my Maori Culture and to share some of my insights.

I love the natural surroundings and environment in which I live in New Zealand.We are a melting potof nationalities that reside here, which makes Aotearoa a Magical Paradise.

Rititia Royal

Local Guide

Simon Cox

Local Guide

Hi I’m Simon and have been for 50 years – I’ve lived and worked in many places in New Zealand but for sheer beauty and grandeur, the South Island is my favourite. I lived and worked with a Maori Medicine Man for 5 years in the naughtys which really opened my eyes up to previously hidden aspects of our country.

Some of my favourite things include – swimming in natural hot pools, hearing the dawn chorus, the mountains and sea and a craft beer or two.

This year I finished a PhD in Genetics, which hasn’t precluded me from still seeing a faere or two, and I look forward to sharing my perspective on Aotearoa with all who travel with Anthony and Anne.